Identified! KY - Owensboro, Pleasant Valley Rd, WhtMale 25-40, UP87, curly hair, eyeglasses, Jan'90 - William Dennis Mathews

[MadMcGoo]

You're right! How strange, when i made that post, the link was down on both instances that i clicked on it, now it's working.

That is strange! I don’t see any new rule outs or information on there, so I wonder what’s going on with him. We can keep an eye on him. Thanks Feme!

 

[Fuuro]

I found an extremely old archived version of this UID's Doe Network page. On the page, you can see two reconstructions that I don't think you can find anywhere else online today. They aren't the best quality, though.

It's interesting that they used clay busts to reconstruct his face. Usually, clay busts are done for UIDs whose faces are in very poor shape to the point where their features are not able to be easily discerned (usually, they're done for decomposed or skeletal remains). It says a lot about the condition of the UID upon his discovery. I think that the UID's retouched facial PM on NamUS must have been heavily edited to appear much less graphic than how he actually looked after he was found.

Edited to add: In my opinion, he looks very different in the clay reconstructions than he does in the drawing that we've seen. Also, maybe it's just me, but I see a little bit of possible racial admixture in those reconstructions.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I found an extremely old archived version of this UID's Doe Network page. On the page, you can see two reconstructions that I don't think you can find anywhere else online today. They aren't the best quality, though.

It's interesting that they used clay busts to reconstruct his face. Usually, clay busts are done for UIDs whose faces are in very poor shape to the point where their features are not able to be easily discerned (usually, they're done for decomposed or skeletal remains). It says a lot about the condition of the UID upon his discovery. I think that the UID's retouched facial PM on NamUS must have been heavily edited to appear much less graphic than how he actually looked after he was found.

Edited to add: In my opinion, he looks very different in the clay reconstructions than he does in the drawing that we've seen. Also, maybe it's just me, but I see a little bit of possible racial admixture in those reconstructions.

Thanks for posting this!! Very interesting. I agree that the clay recons look a bit different than the PM photo, but I think it helps us better see the proportions of his face! Which I also agree, looks like there could be some racial admixture. Hmm. This may be one of a very few cases I think the clay recons help quite a bit.

Thanks again!

 

[ghostINshell]

I found an extremely old archived version of this UID's Doe Network page. On the page, you can see two reconstructions that I don't think you can find anywhere else online today. They aren't the best quality, though.

It's interesting that they used clay busts to reconstruct his face. Usually, clay busts are done for UIDs whose faces are in very poor shape to the point where their features are not able to be easily discerned (usually, they're done for decomposed or skeletal remains). It says a lot about the condition of the UID upon his discovery. I think that the UID's retouched facial PM on NamUS must have been heavily edited to appear much less graphic than how he actually looked after he was found.

Edited to add: In my opinion, he looks very different in the clay reconstructions than he does in the drawing that we've seen. Also, maybe it's just me, but I see a little bit of possible racial admixture in those reconstructions.

In the circumstances it says that police say satanic ritual. Wasn't there a man who was known as a satanic ritualist and he believed that he was a 500 year old vampire in Kentucky in the 90s???
Rod Ferrell???
Rod Ferrell - Wikipedia
However, i'm 99% sure tho that Ferrell was way too young when this happened.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Pasted from link above.

 

[Fuuro]

In the circumstances it says that police say satanic ritual. Wasn't there a man who was known as a satanic ritualist and he believed that he was a 500 year old vampire in Kentucky in the 90s???
Rod Ferrell???
Rod Ferrell - Wikipedia
However, i'm 99% sure tho that Ferrell was way too young when this happened.

Yeah, I agree that Ferrell would have been impossibly young to have done this. There are some really messed up kids out there, but the idea of a 9-year-old boy raping, brutally bludgeoning, and ultimately shooting a grown adult to death is just insane.

I'm not sure that Satanism has anything to do with this case in general. I've heard that back in the 80s and 90s, Satanism caused mass hysteria throughout the United States, especially in the South and in the Bible Belt. Perhaps that contributed to the attribution of a possible Satanic motive to this case.






---
On another note, I've had a nagging thought in the back of my head about this case for quite some time. I haven't shared it because I think that it's very much "out there" and not at all rooted in concrete evidence.

But my mind keeps drifting back to the same theory: is it possible that this UID could have been a trans woman? Quite a few of the contemporary articles that we have about this case indicate that the sexual activity involving the UID was not consensual, but the verbiage of some of the other sources (like the previously-linked archived Doe Network page) seems to suggest that all that is known for certain is that the UID had participated in some sort of sex act with a male, consensual or not, before being killed.

If the UID truly was trans, I'm thinking that the UID willingly had sex with a man who later ended up being the murderer. The man could have discovered that the UID was biologically male, which caused him to kill the UID out of rage.

There is literally no actual evidence to support this theory, though. Fueling it is the fact that all of the UID's clothes are missing. The discovery of the clothing that the UID was wearing at the time of the murder would really say a lot with respect to this particular theory. The reconstructions all depict the UID with short hair, but wigs exist, I guess. The condition of the UID's face could have also made it difficult or impossible to determine the presence of makeup or the like.

The attack that preceded the murder was evidently very prolonged and especially brutal. At least partially, it sounds to me like the killer might have been filled with anger and (self) hatred over the fact that he had been intimate with someone who was biologically male. For what it's worth, this could also definitely apply in the event that the UID was a cis male; the killer could have known the UID's sex from the very beginning and continued with the sexual activity only to end up really regretting it, and he decided to displace his self-loathing onto his unsuspecting victim.

Yeah, this is a crackpot theory, but it's something I've really wondered ever since I really started investigating this case.

 

[ghostINshell]

Yeah, I agree that Ferrell would have been impossibly young to have done this. There are some really messed up kids out there, but the idea of a 9-year-old boy raping, brutally bludgeoning, and ultimately shooting a grown adult to death is just insane.

I'm not sure that Satanism has anything to do with this case in general. I've heard that back in the 80s and 90s, Satanism caused mass hysteria throughout the United States, especially in the South and in the Bible Belt. Perhaps that contributed to the attribution of a possible Satanic motive to this case.






---
On another note, I've had a nagging thought in the back of my head about this case for quite some time. I haven't shared it because I think that it's very much "out there" and not at all rooted in concrete evidence.

But my mind keeps drifting back to the same theory: is it possible that this UID could have been a trans woman? Quite a few of the contemporary articles that we have about this case indicate that the sexual activity involving the UID was not consensual, but the verbiage of some of the other sources (like the previously-linked archived Doe Network page) seems to suggest that all that is known for certain is that the UID had participated in some sort of sex act with a male, consensual or not, before being killed.

If the UID truly was trans, I'm thinking that the UID willingly had sex with a man who later ended up being the murderer. The man could have discovered that the UID was biologically male, which caused him to kill the UID out of rage.

There is literally no actual evidence to support this theory, though. Fueling it is the fact that all of the UID's clothes are missing. The discovery of the clothing that the UID was wearing at the time of the murder would really say a lot with respect to this particular theory. The reconstructions all depict the UID with short hair, but wigs exist, I guess. The condition of the UID's face could have also made it difficult or impossible to determine the presence of makeup or the like.

The attack that preceded the murder was evidently very prolonged and especially brutal. At least partially, it sounds to me like the killer might have been filled with anger and (self) hatred over the fact that he had been intimate with someone who was biologically male. For what it's worth, this could also definitely apply in the event that the UID was a cis male; the killer could have known the UID's sex from the very beginning and continued with the sexual activity only to end up really regretting it, and he decided to displace his self-loathing onto his unsuspecting victim.

Yeah, this is a crackpot theory, but it's something I've really wondered ever since I really started investigating this case.

You have a good point tho!! However based on what it says he could have been a victim of a hate crime against gay men too. Another theory is that he could have been a sex worker and was raped and brutally murdered by a serial killer who either is from Kentucky or was drifting through.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I don’t think these are far fetched theories. They’ve all crossed my mind at some point while researching this case.

 

[coffeeandacig]

I decided to make a new rendering of this UID. Hope it helps in some way.

Everything I noticed in his autopsy photo and side profile photo that was available, make me think this man had FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome).
I couldn't find a photo of the gold rimmed glasses that were found near him. If I find them, I'll update with them on.

 

[MadMcGoo]

View attachment 283988
I decided to make a new rendering of this UID. Hope it helps in some way.

Everything I noticed in his autopsy photo and side profile photo that was available, make me think this man had FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome).
I couldn't find a photo of the gold rimmed glasses that were found near him. If I find them, I'll update with them on.

Hey! That looks good! Thanks for doing this for him

 

[coffeeandacig]

Hey! That looks good! Thanks for doing this for him

Thanks @MadMcGoo ! Hope it helps!

 

[coffeeandacig]

Also, sorry to double post, but I'm not sure if this has been brought up here and I think it might be potentially significant.

Two other UID cases from Kentucky are somewhat similar to this case:
1568UMKY
296UMKY
(snipped by me)

• All 3 victims were found murdered in Kentucky within days of their deaths, and all of their bodies had been mutilated or otherwise damaged in a way that hindered identification.
• Like the thread topic Doe, 1976 John Doe had been sexually assaulted or raped. There's no evidence that the 1989 John Doe was sexually abused in any way, but he was found totally nude and could have been too decomposed to test for any sort of sexual assault.
• Like the thread topic Doe, 1989 JD was found completely nude and shot to death. Also like our main UID, his hands had also been cut off. The 1976 JD's hands were badly burned by the killer, but they were still intact.
• The 1989 case is so similar to the thread topic that I actually thought that they were the same case before I knew much about either victim. It wasn't until after I started looking into these cases that I realized that they were two distinct people killed at two different times in two different places. The 1976 case is not as similar to either of the other two cases as they are to each other, but it still makes me wonder.

For those who've followed all three cases...

I know from doing a portrait of this UID, he has all the markings of being born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Short/small chin, small upturned nose, almond eyes.

Are all these men "mentally handicapped"???
Is there a daycare for the mentally challenged nearby or a placement/long term facility for these adults?

 

[MadMcGoo]

For those who've followed all three cases...

I know from doing a portrait of this UID, he has all the markings of being born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Short/small chin, small upturned nose, almond eyes.

Are all these men "mentally handicapped"???
Is there a daycare for the mentally challenged nearby or a placement/long term facility for these adults?

That’s a good question. There’s also “Jigsaw”, that I can remember off hand, who seems to have required some sort of long term care. Not necessarily for a mental problem, but a physical one. Yet, I’ve never come across any place that I thought would be a good place to look. Maybe when our 1989 Grant County Doe is identified it will lend a clue as to whether these cases may be related or not.

 

[Alysha Stewart]

I’m brand new to WS and this is the first case I am reading out. I am very local to this area where this occurred. Interested in finding the location myself. Going to continue deep diving into local information. To be continued...

 

[MadMcGoo]

I’m brand new to WS and this is the first case I am reading out. I am very local to this area where this occurred. Interested in finding the location myself. Going to continue deep diving into local information. To be continued...

Welcome!! Thanks for taking interest in this case. Anything you can add will be helpful!

 

[Alysha Stewart]

Wondering if I can find out the officers that specifically worked this case. Would love to see if they could chat. Small town for this one and sometimes that helps...just wondering. Thoughts? County records?

 

[MadMcGoo]

Wondering if I can find out the officers that specifically worked this case. Would love to see if they could chat. Small town for this one and sometimes that helps...just wondering. Thoughts? County records?

I spent the better part of yesterday on this case and I found a few things that I’m not sure exactly what to make of...yet. This poor guy suffered. A lot. It’s heartbreaking to me. I do really feel like this is Henry Richard Eubank. I just created a thread for him yesterday that contains the links to his case:

KY - KY - Henry Richard Eubank Jr., 33, Louisville, 19 May 1988

I found quite a few articles actually that are in and of themselves disturbing, but they contain important information; likely related to more than one of our KY cases (some we may not have on our radar). I hope I get these links right, but the date and source are accurate in case the links don’t work.

• The Courier-Journal | January 9, 1990 (1 image)

View attachment 228683

• The Advocate-Messenger | November 23, 1990 (0 images)
• The Courier-Journal | November 24, 1990 (1 image)

View attachment 228682

• Messenger-Inquirer | December 7, 1990 (4 images)

View attachment 228684 View attachment 228685 View attachment 228686 View attachment 228690

• Messenger-Inquirer | April 22, 2009 (3 images)

View attachment 228687 View attachment 228688 View attachment 228689

January 10, 1990. Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, KY.

January 9, 1990. The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY.

January 8, 1990. Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, KY.

January 16, 1990. Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, KY.

Good idea! Here are some articles from when it occurred. They contain some names of people who were working (presumably this case) at the time. Hope this helps

 

[Alysha Stewart]

Good idea! Here are some articles from when it occurred. They contain some names of people who were working (presumably this case) at the time. Hope this helps

Okay. Wow is the first word that is coming to mind.
First of all, the fact that the head was severed for reconstruction and then lost??? I'm in shock.

I'm also terribly confused on the teeth issue. Some things say he had teeth, some things say his teeth were removed, some state that his teeth were knocked down into this throat. Maybe I'm just missing something or being completely clueless, were those teeth not recovered within him during an autopsy...I assume this was performed, right?!?

As for Henry Richard Eubank. I wonder if he had any type of tie to the Owensboro area...friends/family/job. While Louisville is not "terribly" far, it's not a drive you really take for leisure. Also, I wonder what his history was.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Okay. Wow is the first word that is coming to mind.
First of all, the fact that the head was severed for reconstruction and then lost??? I'm in shock.

I'm also terribly confused on the teeth issue. Some things say he had teeth, some things say his teeth were removed, some state that his teeth were knocked down into this throat. Maybe I'm just missing something or being completely clueless, were those teeth not recovered within him during an autopsy...I assume this was performed, right?!?

As for Henry Richard Eubank. I wonder if he had any type of tie to the Owensboro area...friends/family/job. While Louisville is not "terribly" far, it's not a drive you really take for leisure. Also, I wonder what his history was.

It is a very shocking crime. Just horrible.

I’m not sure about the teeth. I believe they were “removed”. Probably knocked out, maybe with the blunt instrument? I can’t be certain though.

I looked into Henry awhile back but didn’t find anything connecting him to this case. I may do a little more research tonight. I think the theory is he committed suicide, so I’m not sure how he could be our Doe. But who knows!

 

[carbuff]

MP1666 Lindsey Baker, Jr 06/01/1989 Alexander NC
MP5617, Steven Bunch from Kentucky
MP20747 Ronald Janes 12/27/1989 Jefferson KY
MP25564, Timothy Keays from Oregon
MP1972 Allyn Kellar 03/25/1986 Adams NE
MP35538 Michael Mccormick 12/07/1989 Chemung NY
MP9491 David Mize 04/18/1989 DeSoto MS
MP9041 Jerry Plaster 04/16/1988 Manassas VA

WARNING: very disturbing PM photo visible as soon as you open the page: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)